Exchange report - incoming students
Home university: Turun Yliopisto (University of Turku/Åbo)
Study programme: Medicine
Exchange programme: Erasmus
Semester: Autumn semester 2011/2012

Arrival and registration

The introduction day was good. It was nice to meet other exchange students but I was eager to know who of those would be with me at the same course the next year. I hadn't much contact with student health center because I didn't need it. 

The lecture about different cultures were really good and fun!

Acommendation

I didn't want to live in the UAC apartements because I thought they were so far from my school (Huddinge hospital). In addition to that I wanted to experience the "real living" in Stockholm as a "Stckholmare" and not as an exchange student. I wasn't that into that every day partying eather. 
So I decided to get own housing. Unfortunately it is REALLY hard to get own place in Stockholm, especially when I didn't want only a room in someone's apartement (because my boyfriend was visiting me quite often and it wouldn't have been so nice for him to be a guest for someone else). I started to find places that had rent about 4000 crones, but the last choices that I was checking after a few months were 7000-8000 crones! And still I didn't even had a chance to and look some place!
Fortunately I have quite many relatives in Stockholm. My uncle and his wife had a place 30min from my school (only one bus) and they self lived the hole time in their summer cottage. So I was lucky to live really comfortably and cheap too. 

Still, if I would be going to Stockholm again, I would search own apartement even more. I would have wanted to live more center of Stockholm. The thing to get a place in Stockholm seemed to be contacts who have contacts there...

Leisure time and social activities

I think I would have made more friends from exchange students if I had lived in a student house. But as I said earlies that wasn't all that I wanted from my exchange year. Also I danced in a dance school about 4 nights a week so I didn't have time to go somewhere else on these days. But the time spent in school with my course mates was great and some weekend we had some get-togethers. I had some other friends too in Stockholm which was really nice to hear their experiences, too.

Pre-departure

I wanted to go on exchange already some time and I suddenly noticed that this was my last chance to do it because my studies were starting to end next year. I thought also that I wasn't ready graduate yet so another year as a student was really welcome. Stockholm was my only option for an exchange. I need Swedish in my home country so I wasted to learn to speak it better. I have also always wanted to live in Stockholm so this was an great opportunity to that. It was also an opportunity to get to know Swedish living and people because it has been a dream to move to Sweden. In addition, I wasn't ready spend several months away from my boyfriend and he could come and visit me in Stockholm often enough.

I was given enough information both by KI and my home university and if there was something I was wondering there were always someone to turn to. I didn't need any vaccinations but the MRSA-test was made in KI when we got there.

Courses during the exchange period

D8XX01 : Clinical Medicine - Surgery
Same as in Sudies in general.

Summary

My exchange year in KI was really great and I've missed it and thought it much afterwards. I think there isn't that much I would change about it. Maybe I would search own place even harder, but it was good in this way, too. I'm really looking for to visit Stockholm again!

Language and Culture

I didn't participate in Swedish language course although I would have wanted. I just didn't have any time for it from my other hobbies. In addition, I could Swedish that much that I could discuss with people. The thing that I was looking for in Sweden was to have more courage to speak Swedish, not to learn it perfectly.

Studies in general

In Stockholm I had the general surgery course in Huddinge hospital. I liked the course and the all the teachers/supervisors. Environment was great. Almost half of my course was Swedish students. I thought that was great! They were really helpful and nice and it was great way to learn more Swedish with them!

In Sweden i think the team work is really much better than where I come from. Everyone was  so nice and friendly! 

In our course we didn't have any lectures. I thought it was good for me because this my second surgery course, but I think also that I would have troubles if I had been doing that for the first time. I also think that the examination was much harder than you could have thought during the course.